The Heart Of Life
by The Bellmaker
Summary: Set well after the series, Naruto and Sakura are now ANBU, Konoha's elite Black Ops ninja. However, this does not mean they are invincible... May ignore Shippuden entirely


**Author's Note: Well, it has been entirely too long since I've posted anything, really. I've had this for months in a rough and unpolished form, and I thought I'd finally get it up. Of course, nothing would've come of that if it weren't for Shinoskunoichi, who beta'd this, as well as pushing me to really think it through and rewrite it to be something worth posting. I intend for this to be a fairly long story, eventually, but this is less humourous and a lot heavier than my other stories, so updates may be a tad...sporadic. I love this story to death, really, but it's a bit different, and I can only deal with so much heavy thought, yanno? Anyway, without further ado...**

_The Heart Of Life  
Chapter One  
__The Bellmaker_

"Idiot! What have we always told you about just rushing in like that?" ANBU Operative Cat said quietly, and without any real anger in her voice. She bit her lip worriedly behind her mask, and ran on, her wounded partner slung over her shoulder.

"Ugh..." ANBU Monkey groaned, as he woke to a world of...surprisingly little pain? And the very enticing scent of freshly cooking food...mmm... He began to sit up, but a firm, yet gentle, hand was on his shoulder. He tensed, briefly, but the person spoke.

"You shouldn't sit up like that. Here." The slim, strong arms of his partner helped him sit up, and the expected painful twinge never came. A pair of chopsticks and a bowl of food were pressed into his hands, and he discovered he was much hungrier than he had realized. He ate ravenously, emptying the bowl in seconds.

"How long was I out...?"

"Five days. You still aren't entirely healed..."

This gave Monkey pause, for just a moment, before he asked, "The mission?"

"Completed by a back-up team." The two fell silent a moment.

"And..." He hesitated a moment, "my wounds?"

"I've been doing what I can, and you do heal impossibly fast - which is why you're still alive, by the way - but...there are some things medical jutsu can't do, and..." Cat trailed off. There was the clack of wood on stone as she laid her mask aside. "...Naruto?" She caught his hands as they reflexively rose to remove his mask, not realizing it was already gone.

He tried to peer through the oppressive darkness, but he couldn't see her face, even though she sat not four feet away. Her tone was frightening him more than anything else...Sakura hadn't cried in years, but now...she sounded like she was dangerously close. "What? What is it? C'mon, what's happened? And why's it...so...dark...?" His voice trailed off as a terrible certainty suddenly dawned in his mind, as with the movement of his face, he felt something shift across his skin.

"It's...your eyes. They're..." Her voice broke, and unseen by her partner, she looked away, unable to continue. As he lifted a hand to his face once more, she didn't interfere. His fingertips brushed cloth, bandages wrapped around his head. He pulled at them, loosening them until they hung loosely around his neck, and, his hand trembling, ran his fingers across his face. Where his eyes should be...he felt nothing. A pair of empty sockets were all that was left to him.

"So...I'm..." The blonde paused a moment, steeling himself to say the words. "Blind?" It came out as a whisper. A dark, hopeless emotion settled in the pit of his stomache as he spoke the word. He had known, but the saying of it seemed to seal his fate. Sakura looked away.

"...Yeah." They both knew what that meant. A blind ninja was worse than useless, and even a ninja with only one eye was a hazard, more often than not. "I...I'm...We.." She was trying to say something, but couldn't find the words. Silence enveloped them.

ANBU Cat settled into position, having finally returned to her watch post from a patrol of the area, and she immediately began to worry. It had been two days since her partner had woken up, and he hadn't been himself since. He had been very quiet these last couple of days, almost like he was thinking about something. Cat worried about how reserved he had become. She knew how much being a ninja had meant to him, and this injury had just taken all of that away from him. Maybe if the senbon hadn't penetrated so deeply, or been so strongly charged with chakra, a transplant would be viable, but the optic nerve itself had been so severely damaged it would be impossible. It was just so frustrating! Why did he have to lose everything? After all he'd already been through? Suddenly, a familiar presence jarred her from her thoughts. She frowned under her mask. Where...? She started to turn, trying to pinpoint it, when she found herself mask-to-mask with ANBU Wolf. She jumped, startled, and it took all of her self-control not to lash out at him.

"You're going to get yourself killed like that, one of these days." She scolded, in as even a voice as she could manage. "Why are you here?"

"Heheh. They've got me running courier duty, again. Got a new mission for you two." He waved a small scroll, "Where's Monkey? Bear and Tanuki said something ridiculous about having to bail you guys out on your last mission. He'll get a kick out of it."

"He's in the cave, recovering." She grabbed the scroll, "They weren't lying."

A low, impressed whistle came from Wolf. "Whoa. So he finally found someone stronger, huh? Never really thought it could happen..."

"Not someone stronger. An equal. If it weren't for those twelve other jonin, though, we probably would have had it well in hand." Cat shrugged. "Ah, well. Is that everything?"

"Yeah." Wolf nodded once, and disappeared, off to...somewhere. One never really knew, with him. Cat quickly patrolled the area, checking her traps and making sure the perimeter was secure, before settling into her watch post to read the new mission.

It hadn't even been thirty minutes since Wolf had left when she was startled by a sudden flare of familiar chakra within the cave. Her head snapped around, and hope and annoyance blossomed together within her heart. Hope that he had finally snapped out of the introverted mood he'd been in, and annoyance over the undoubtedly stupid thing he'd just done.

Of course, the annoyance faded into worry as she rushed into the cave, and the worry proved justified when she burst into the cavern to witness Naruto frantically trying to tear the bandages off of his face, most likely because they had somehow _burst into flames_. She leapt forward in a controlled motion, and tore the bandages off of him, taking a moment to stamp out the flames before turning to glare at her sheepish partner.

"How did you manage to set your head on fire this time, you idiot!" She demanded, checking him over for burns.

"Well, you know how chakra is made up of two parts, the physical and the mental or, or, um, spiritual or something?" She found herself nodding, before stopping guiltily, remembering that he wouldn't be able to take the cue. Luckily, he hadn't waited at all. "Well, I thought that maybe if I used physical energy to form a framework, I'd be able to focus the Kyuubi's chakra to regenerate my eyes."

He fell silent for a moment, right as Sakura burst out, "What? _Separate your chakra? _Is that even possible? I've never heard of anyone doing that before…"

This made him pause, before chuckling humourlessly. "I guess it is, because, in the end, I managed to do it. But separating chakra is a lot harder than I'd ever thought it would be. I accidentally used the spirit part instead, I think, and then, right as I was about to channel the Fox's chakra, something weird happened. I was so surprised that I lost control for a moment, and BAM! My head's on fire." He shrugged. "Not as good a story as the time in the Land of Grass, but-"

Now, long association with the blonde had taught Sakura a lot about him, and the way glossed over the issue spoke volumes. "Naruto..." She said, annoyance returning full force, "Weird how? Tell me what happened."

A joyless grin appeared on his face, and he looked resigned. "So that's how it is, huh? You really know me too well, Sakura. Man..." He sighed. "Well...alright. It's been a long time since I could ever really hide anything from you guys."

And as he explained just what it was that had happened, when he had split his chakra, Sakura simply grew more and more confused, until, finally, it all crystallized in her mind, and the look she gave Naruto was equal parts pity, worry, and hope.

"...How?" She whispered to herself, reeling from the shock of the revelation. "It couldn't be..."


End file.
